I thought I'd jump in when cooler heads prevailed, but then by that
time I would have missed the party. So to be fashionably late . . . .
On Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 9:22 AM, Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> wrote:
> Now, let's review. Bobbie quotes a misleading ITworld.com headline (and
> matching ITworld.com URL) that people all over the Internet who read
> shallowly have been parroting in order to unfairly slag Fedora Linux,
> i.e., Red Hat, Inc., which as usual has been doing thankless basic
> engineering work and attempting to ensure that all Linuxes can run on
> the next generation of hardware.
What is that saying about a lie can travel halfway around the world
before the truth puts its pants on? This instance would be Exhibit A
for that. So Instead of saying "Hey, thanks," to Fedora and Red Hat
for whipping out the checkbook and making UEFI easier to use on newer
hardware (putting aside the argument that we should all be buying
Linux-specific hardware in the first place from vendors like ZaReason
or System 76), what we're getting is "sky-is-falling" propaganda
parroted from people who ought to know better.
[As an aside, I didn't see any other FOSS entity -- like, oh I don't
know, Canonical/Ubuntu -- stepping up to the plate to address the UEFI
issue. Nor would I expect them to, since their contributions back to
FOSS are limited, at best.]
So, Rick: Thank you for pointing this out and thanks for being
vigilant about things like this. Like Rick, I also care about whether
the truth of Linux news gets out and is understood, and people who
advocate for Linux and FOSS need to care about this as well.
I've crossed verbal swords with Rick before and I have the scars to
show for it (conversely, I would like to think that he also has a few
scars from my verbal rapier as well), and while I have been
corresponding with him on and off mailing lists (mostly this one) for
years, I met him in person for the first time at SCALE this year. I
find him to be a very friendly person who is completely dedicated and
committed to the promotion and well-being of Linux and FOSS.
Passive is not a word that would come close to describing Rick, much
to his credit and much to Linux's and FOSS's benefit. Of course, he
doesn't need me to speak on his behalf -- he does a great job of it on
his own -- but rather than let much of the arguably unwarranted
criticism go unaddressed, some may need a reminder.
Larry Cafiero